Qwerty, Azerty, Qzerty. The keyboard is one of the oldest input peripherals for computers, and it has not changed all that much in the last 140 years. The effects of this on modern computing are beginning to be felt. It was patented in 1864 by the American Christopher Sholes in response to a problem which now no longer exists. Sholes had split the keyboard into two vertical sections in order to avoid the typebars which struck the paper from jamming. He thus divided the sequences of letters most used in English, such as TH and ST. The typebars no longer crossed, and the Qwerty layout was born.

Since the days of typewriters, the layout of the keyboard has hardly changed at all, and now with computers it is proving to be inefficient. In the case of Sholes, for example, having T and H, or S and T near to each other is useful only when writing in English. One solution has been proposed by Nemeio, a new French brand which has presented the first ever electronic ink keyboard at the CES fair in Las Vegas.

Yet to be named, the device is simple yet ingenious. The keys are transparent, and beneath each one is an electronic ink display - the same technology used by e-readers. A programme for both Macs and PCs allows for the personalisation of every single key. All one needs to do is drag an icon onto the desired key to transform a T into an S or an M into an A. The small display under the key immediately shows the new letter and the modification is complete. It is also possible to set determined actions for each key, in order to adapt the keyboard for the programmes we use the most, from graphics editors to word processors or browsers. Connection is via Bluetooth or with a classic USB cable.

At the moment this interesting idea by Nemeio is only a concept, but it doesn’t seem that far-fetched. The company says that the keyboard should be available soon, as early as the summer, at a price of between 300 and 500 dollars.